| Rokiah Mahmud |
WITH the rise in sweltering hot days and increasing number of typhoons with unprecedented instances of storm surges, the phenomenons have become the norm today while the people blame climate change.
The global public awareness on the urgency of addressing climate change has increased over the years while in the ASEAN region alone, overall temperature has been increasing at a rate of 0.14-0.20 degrees Celsius per decade since the 1960s, as reported in the Second Edition of the ASEAN Biodiversity Outlook (ABO 2) of the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB).
The publication stressed that the continued warming will affect the vegetation and habitat of numerous wildlife in the region.
Additionally, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) acknowledged that warming beyond the highest recorded temperature for the past 1.8 million years will cause an abnormal level of stress to the various species and their habitats.
In this regard, the ACB and SwedBio, in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Climate Change Commission of the Philippines, organised the Asia Multi-Actor Dialogue Seminar to Build Social-Ecological Resilience through the Incorporation of Ecosystem-Based Solutions in Nationally Determined Contributions from October 9-12.
Participants from ASEAN member states and delegates from Pakistan and Bangladesh joined representatives from Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) and the ASEAN Secretariat in the seminar to exchange experiences of developing the role for ecosystem-based approaches in climate-related work at national level; identify synergies among potential ecosystem-based approaches for delivering benefits related to multiple objectives; empower those concerned with the well-being of nature to engage with those responsible for achieving Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs); and establish the support needed by the region to advance ecosystem-based approaches to adapt to and mitigate climate change as well as to reduce the risk of disasters.
ACB Executive Director Dr Theresa Mundita S Lim in her message during the first day of the dialogue-seminar said, “The ACB is providing a venue and opportunity for the ASEAN member states to work together in the spirit of one ASEAN Community. Today, the world, particularly the ASEAN region, is confronted by the twin threats of climate change and biodiversity loss… I am sure you will all agree with me when I say that climate change and biodiversity loss are inseparable concerns. Climate change is a major driver of biodiversity loss, and healthy biodiversity is a major solution to climate change.
“Our workshop is the first of our efforts at mainstreaming biodiversity to make sure that climate change and biodiversity loss is not treated separately. It is not a question of turf as to who will be responsible or who will be in charge.”
She added, “Our concern is to mainstream biodiversity to ensure that all sectors – from political leaders to scientists, from the media to the general public, from civic leaders to students – will be working together to combat the twin threats to humankind.
“Globally, everyone agrees that climate change adaptation is of utmost importance and urgency. Ironically, funding or support is very much wanting. It’s always not enough. But, with working together, we will be able to maximise our efforts in addressing what is most important to us.”
Welcoming the participants to the seminar was Officer-in-Charge Director of the Climate Change Service of the DENR Elenida Basug, who said, “Today, we have come at a point where we acknowledge that the force of climate change in the region and in our respective countries is here, that climate change is no longer a floating theoretical concept but rather a phenomenon that affects our environment and our daily lives.”
Programme Officer on Climate Change and Ecosystems at SwedBio Tristan Tyrrell in his capacity as one of the event’s facilitators, meanwhile, introduced climate change-related concepts such as Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) and Ecosystem-based Mitigation (EbM), along with explaining how such concepts affect or can be incorporated in the upcoming projects of the participants’ organisations and their individual countries’ National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs).
Discussions within the separate groups and in plenary constituted the majority of the dialogue-seminar.
Projects in place to either adapt to or mitigate the effects of climate change undertaken by the bodies represented by the participants included technological solutions such as solar-powered irrigation systems, fish conservation, diversified planting, and community-based enterprises.
On the other hand, activities that the participants wanted their organisations to consider doing included rainwater harvesting, private sector engagement and urban forestry.
Part of the four-day event was a visit to the Las Piñas-Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area (LPPCHEA), the first critical habitat to be declared in the Philippines, and a Ramsar Site. Senator Cynthia Villar, the current chairperson of the Senate Committees on Environment and Natural Resources, welcomed the participants before they were given a tour of the area.
On the closing day of the event, short-term to long-term goals of each represented country were shared as a means to finalise the participants’ commitments.
The ASEAN member states’ Pledge in Paris
In December 2015, Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) met in Paris, France and agreed on actions to fight climate change.
As per the UNFCCC, “The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.”
All parties have commitments to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions, and adapt to the impacts of climate change; these are what are known as the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
As of March 2017, all 10 ASEAN member states have ratified the Paris Agreement. Each member state’s NDCs outline post-2020 climate actions that they intend to undertake under the agreement.
ABO 2 asserts that the ASEAN region is aware of its vulnerability to the effects brought about by climate change.
However, it has to be emphasised that biodiversity conservation can effectively diminish the impacts of climate change. Increased collaboration, sharing of expertise and public awareness of the inter-relationship between climate change and biodiversity are crucial to addressing these twin issues.
The ACB was established in 2005 by the ASEAN member states as a response to biodiversity loss in the region. The centre supports and coordinates the implementation of activities in the ASEAN region leading to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, for the benefit of the region and the ASEAN member states.